~~Pagan Parenting in February!~~

[wombatclay]

A wonderful poem of Imbolc and Brigid on The Gods Must Be Bored ends with

Our faith is clear in times most drear, when earth is bleak and frigid –
The gods did send a guide, a friend, to all in lovely Brigid.

May we all find friendship and guidance in this season of hope in shadow.

[wombatclay]

And from the early Church in Ireland:

Every day and each night
I will say the genealogy of Bride,
I will not be killed, I will not be harried,
I will not be put in a cell, I will not be wounded,
Neither will God leave me in forgetfulness.
No fire, no sun, no moon will burn me,
No lake, no water, no sea shall drown me,
No dart of fairy nor arrow of fay will wound me,
And I am under the protection of my holy mother Mary,
And her foster-mother Bride.
Genealogy of the holy maiden Bride (second verse)

Given our discussion last month about finding common ground between faiths... this seems like a nice bridge.  :)

[Valerie.Qc]

Subbing.

[MamaFern]

subbing!

its been a long while since i have spent any time on MDC, but i felt compelled to join back in and im really happy i did! i miss these threads!!

Blessed Imbolc to all!

i like this verse for Imbolc...

May the light of Bridgid's

eternal fire

warm and cheer us.

May her generosity

bless us

with abundance.

May she continue

to inspire us

to follow our path.

[Maiasaura]

Blessed Imbolc, all!

Blessing of Brigit

Each day and each night

That I say the Descent of Brigit,

I shall not be slain,

I shall not be sworded,

I shall not be put in cell,

I shall not be hewn,

I shall not be riven,

I shall not be anguished,

I shall not be wounded,

I shall not be ravaged,

I shall not be blinded,

I shall not be made naked,

I shall not be left bare,

Nor will Christ

Leave me forgotten.

Nor fire shall burn me,

Nor sun shall burn me,

Nor moon shall blanch me.

Nor water shall drown me,

Nor flood shall drown me,

Nor brine shall drown me.

Nor seed of fairy host shall lift me,

Nor seed of airy host shall lift me,

Nor earthly being destroy me.

I am under the shielding

Of good Brigit each day;

I am under the shielding

Of good Brigit each night.

I am under the keeping

Of the Nurse of Mary

Each early and late,

Every dark, every light.

Brigit is my comrade-woman

Brigit is my maker of song,

Brigit is my helping-woman,

My choicest of women, my guide.

Being that I'm on a restricted diet, today I will have beef and cabbage, with caraway, and butter flavoring

[3xMama]

Blessed Imbolc! 

[Aeress]

Blessed Imbolc!

I am way behind, between homeschool, a committee I am on, and my new class, I am rarely on mDC anymore.

[MamaInTheDesert]

Hey! New here and subbing.

Blessed Imbolc!

How are you all celebrating today? DD(4) and I are off to the store in a few to get some seeds to start indoors. Additionally, we've been working on some "spring cleaning" today. Also, I'm thinking about having a fire outside this evening, and talking a bit about how the season is beginning to end, and having some s'mores.

[_ktg_]

Blessed Imbolc Everyone!! 

If you haven't seen this yet - it's a wonderful poem from Teo Bishop!    It inspired me enough to craft a little poem out myself last night!

I found this little gem which I thought was perfect for today:

The Maiden comes to bring us Light
The Winter dies and all is bright
The frozen ground shall disappear
And all shall sprout for Spring is near

[sxyeyecandy]

Hi, I just wanted to say,  that was a lovely poem!  Thx for sharing.

[sxyeyecandy]

Hi, I just wanted to say,  that was a lovely poem!  Thx for sharing.

[Maiasaura]

Hello and MM to all the newbies! And blessed Imbolc! We didn't do anything. DS doesn't care anymore, plus, his birthday was Tuesday and Imbolc always gets overshadowed by that. There is a public ritual this Saturday, though, and we will be going to that

[witchygrrl]

Hi all! Imbolc was quiet as DD fell asleep extremely early, and then slept on through the morning. But I sent along cupcakes to her forest kindergarten for her half birthday. It's funny, but she's suddenly gotten this more grown up look to her. She makes these weird leaps and bounds like that....it freaks me out.

Anyway, thank you for the lovely poetry, all!

[wombatclay]

Such a crazy week!  On Monday Ro found a qtip and *wham* into MY ear it went... I was pretty sure it was a ruptured eardrum so I called DH and he came home so we could go to the ER.  Then the minivan needed to be jumped.  At the ER they found the eardrum was ok but the qtip had cut the ear canal and the bleeding/swelling was icky.  Abx ear drops and ibuprofen and home.  Tuesday I got a second degree burn on my arm when I reached through the steam of the rice cooker... total crazy accident.  I'd moved the rice cooker (so I wasn't expecting danger where it actually was), I was making dinner early (so I forgot the darn thing was on when it was), and I was reaching for something I generally use only first thing in the morning.  At first I couldn't even figure out what was causing the pain in my arm!  So the blisters have shrunk but there is still a half dollar sized circle of burned me.  Thankfully Wed was calm, but yesterday I caught a cold and today I feel like I've been hit by the sore throat gremlin.  LOL

I made the waking earth molasses cake from the Imbolc section of Cooking Like a Goddess and re-decorated the nature table and family altar with "early spring" things and sheep.  I wanted to do more but between the ear, the burn, the cold, and the time at my new job I'm exhausted.  DH and I both have tomorrow off though and we're gonna rock the world of home improvement.  Oh, and we were given a couch!  No mold this time, though it /is/ used.  It's very old fashioned (sort of a straight back and sides, kind of like a wingback chair that's been stretched?) but the smaller scale is what we need... our home is tiny and most modern furniture is just out of our scale (and budget, but even if we had the money, we wouldn't have the sq/footage).  It has three cushions though.  It's just narrow front to back.  There is a matching armchair and footstool too!  It's a floral fabric, so it's sort of Imbolc decoration, right?  We have to pick it up at the shop...

The kids sing a "seasonal verse" over their bedtime candles.  I'm ready for a more spring themed tune... any suggestions?  Right now they sing (to the tune of london bridge):

Winter's night is really long, really long, really long

Winter's night is really long, Come Back Sun!

Usually the girls make up the verse but for some reason they're drawing a blank... maybe because it really doesn't feel any different right now?

[vydalea]

Hellllooooo everyone!!! 

Is it really the 4th already? 

We're holding off our family Imbolc celebration until Monday...the sprouts weren't QUITE as far along as I wanted them to and I didn't feel ready.  It was a wild week (albeit, not as wild as YOURS, Clay!!!  glad you're okay, mama!) lots of visiting being done so I'm looking forward to this next week which *SO FAR* looks quieter.  I'm planning to do a little indoor light garden (idea from celebrating the great mother).  I've put some seeds on my altar as well wrapped a light green scarf around it.  It's the scarf I usually wear to our local "Parade Day" which, for me, marks the earliest days of spring.  It's when we celebrate St. Patrick's Day here.  A lot of the Pipe and Drum bands that are local go to NYC or Philly parades for St. Pat's day so we do it early so we can have everyone participate.  It's stinkin' awesome, it truly feels like we are welcoming spring - everyone is out on the street for the first time!  Although, like you said, Clay, it's not like it feels much different!! 

As a carryover from last month here's info on sprouting for those of you who were wondering about it: http://sproutpeople.org/sprouts/grow/sprouting.html  hopefully the link works.  

Big hugs to all and a very merry meet to those of you who are new!! 

[3xMama]

Hello! Welcome to the new posters!! 

witchy-My kids do that to me, too. Its like suddenly I look at them and they've grown two inches, lost baby fat and look a lot older. Its kind of sad and wonderful, like so much related to parenting...

Clay-Goodness, what a week! Thank goodness you are ok all in all though. Hope the sore throat goes away soon. There are very few things that are worse than a sore throat in my book. How's the job going? Are you managing pumping ok?

Ya know, you always have such neat Pagan-y things you do with your kiddos. Its usually in passing-such as the bedtime candles. Would you mind sharing a few other things you do with your kids? I'd love some ideas. 

Vydalea-Sounds like a fun Imbolc! I'm also going to do the light garden from Celebrating the Great Mother. I really like that book. Its not too in depth, but for a beginner family, its pretty darn good!

Would anyone mind sharing what their alter is like? Do you generally use a lot of the traditional items (wand, cauldron, water, salt etc) or just things that mean something to you? I'm feeling pretty stuck with my alter. It just doesn't feel right and now feels like the time I need to start really focusing on it. 

Otherwise, I'm extremely ready for the Super Bowl to be over over over! (I live in Indianapolis.) DH works for the company that has the food contract with Lucas Oil Stadium so we haven't really seen him this past week. The very fantastic good news is he's getting a TON of overtime. He'll easily hit 80hrs this pay period-woo! Our bank account will be extra happy, lol. But I still miss my hubby and the kiddos keep asking for him. Its sad. He doesn't even have the time to stop and call us to talk for ten minutes. Maia-Dunno how you do it, hun! I really really don't! 

Well, I think the beeswax to make dipping candles with DD is nearly melted. It only took forty five minutes.  So off we go to make some Imbolc candles!!!

[witchygrrl]

Just went to a love, sex, and food class with Dawn Hunt, who is the kitchen with of the Temple of Witchcraft. OMGs, that was enjoyable. Of course, I went home to a very awake 3 year old. Oh well!

[Maiasaura]

Originally Posted by 3xMama Would anyone mind sharing what their alter is like? Do you generally use a lot of the traditional items (wand, cauldron, water, salt etc) or just things that mean something to you? I'm feeling pretty stuck with my alter. It just doesn't feel right and now feels like the time I need to start really focusing on it. 

But I still miss my hubby and the kiddos keep asking for him. Its sad. He doesn't even have the time to stop and call us to talk for ten minutes. Maia-Dunno how you do it, hun! I really really don't! 

ALTAR ALTAR ALTAR. It's spelled with TWO A'S!

"Alter" is to change something. Like putting a hem in pants, for instance. I'm not just yelling at you, 3X...people keep posting it with an A and an E every Pagan holiday and it's a huge pet peeve with me

Oh, about M...I do it because I have to. There's no other way, at the moment. But we are grateful for what we have. It's like single parenthood-- people always ask me how in the world I do it. I do it because that's what I was given--- and besides, it's not like I can send him back (ds)

The ritual tonight was lovely. I have been going to these public rituals for years, and I love love love the Brigid one.

[3xMama]

Originally Posted by Maiasaura 

ALTAR ALTAR ALTAR. It's spelled with TWO A'S!

"Alter" is to change something. Like putting a hem in pants, for instance. I'm not just yelling at you, 3X...people keep posting it with an A and an E every Pagan holiday and it's a huge pet peeve with me

 Oops. Honestly, I've never even noticed a difference in spelling. Possibly because so many ppl misspell it?? I'll watch that from now on. 
 

[Maiasaura]

Originally Posted by 3xMama 

 Oops. Honestly, I've never even noticed a difference in spelling. Possibly because so many ppl misspell it?? I'll watch that from now on. 
 

LOL, sorry Really I am not yelling at you! Yes, you're probably right. About so many people misspelling it. I am Grammar Police and honestly sometimes I hate it, because I notice so much digression with the language. Misspellings on billboards! I mean the "your" for "you're" all the time, and the internet abbreviations...have seriously contributed to it. It's bloody awful. It's not just you; it's everywhere. And the fact that so many people have given up on reading does not help.